"Breeding-back" aims to restore or immitate extinct animals by selective breeding. This blog provides general information, the facts behind myths and news from various projects.

Sunday, 23 July 2017

Another aurochs bull reconstruction

Sometimes, photos of living cattle inspire me to do aurochs drawings, often based on some anatomical details, such as when the body shape or skull shape is exactly like I would imagine it for an aurochs. In the case of the photo of this Eringer bull, it was the coat that inspired me. Not its colour, which is probably alright (I assume that the dorsal stripe is not visible in this position), but the curly hair on its face, forehead, neck and shoulders. While historic account confirm the presence of curly hair only on the forehead, I believe that more extensive curly hair could have been a trait for at least some European aurochs bulls. For details, go here: Forelocks and manes. So I decided to to a standard aurochs bull in the same position as the Eringer bull with the same kind of coat. My bull is roughly based on my recent reconstructions of the Braunschweig and Sassenberg bulls, and also has pretty much standard horns.

I say that like in the Eringer bull, a narrow eel stripe would not be visible from that position. The mealy mouth would be a bit reduced, as it is a mature, perhaps a bit old bull.

1 comment:

Hi Daniel,In my italian region (Aosta valley) eringer cattle is common and called castana valdostana. Ours bulls don't have evident dorsal stripes and this character could be present in the bull that inspired you.Rudy

About this blog

This blog is on everything related to the so-called “breeding-back” of extinct animals: From the extinct animals themselves, over their often domestic descendants and dedomestication to news and facts about various breeding-back projects, reports and photos from my own breeding-back related trips. I try to have a balanced and fact-based approach to this subject and to dismantle many of the popular myths. Enjoy!

Labels

About me

My major interest always have been extinct animals, from dinosaurs to Pleistocene megafauna and more recent extinctions. Besides that I am interested in evolution, genetics and ecology.
I am also an amateur animal artist, making drawings and models mostly of extinct animals.